When "Amazing Grace" opens at Penn Cinemas, expect to find John Oliver in line for tickets.
He's been waiting for the movie about British abolitionist William Wilberforce ever since hearing about it.
"I'm chomping at the bit here," the Lititz man said last week.
"There's so few good movies" that allow viewers to take something worthwhile home from the experience.
"Amazing Grace" could be one of them.
Fueled by Wilberforce groupies, buzz about the movie, which opens here Feb. 23, is building. Private screenings, including a preview on Valentine's Day, are being booked. Penn Ketchum, owner of Penn Cinemas, said he has been getting requests to show "Amazing Grace" since last fall.
How can an 18th-century Englishman be popular in 21st-century Lancaster County?
That's one of the amazing stories about "Amazing Grace."
"I've seen it four times," said Randy Testa, vice president of education and professional development for Walden Media, whose sister company, Bristol Bay Productions, produced the movie. "It's an extraordinary film."
About an extraordinary man, who almost single-handedly convinced Parliament to outlaw first the slave trade and then slavery itself in Britain. The movie is timed to the 200th anniversary of the end of slave trading.
"He was a big influence on Lincoln and was a major source of inspiration for the American abolitionist movement," said Don Eberly, the former Bush administration official who is hosting the preview screening.
"His life and model have been a constant companion."
Agent of change
While many faith-based movie campaigns, following the pattern of "The Passion of the Christ," market strongly to churches, "Amazing Grace" is finding another audience among civic leaders and politicians.
"What William Wilberforce exemplifies is someone motivated by their Christian faith to give their life toward making life better for others, toward effecting positive change," said Michael Geer, the Elizabethtown man who is president of the Pennsylvania Family Institute.
PFI has booked a private showing of "Amazing Grace" on opening night, Feb. 23, at Penn Cinemas near Lititz.
"When we heard this movie was in production, we immediately wanted to get as many people to see it as possible," said Geer.
"There's an oft-repeated phrase about someone who's so heavenly minded that they're no earthly good. I think William Wilberforce refutes that statement."
John Oliver, another Wilberforce fan, agrees.
The United States fought the bloody Civil War over slavery. "In England," Oliver noted, "it was abolished without war. Everybody would attest the main reason it was abolished was the efforts of William Wilberforce."
Wilberforce - "a young 21-year-old rich kid who was bored and decided to run for Parliament," as Oliver puts it - became a Christian after his election. He thought about leaving his political career to enter the ministry.
But John Newton encouraged him to stay in Parliament, and that's where the "Amazing Grace" connection comes in.
Newton was a minister, but before that, he had been a slave trader. He memorialized his conversion to Christianity, which brought about his subsequent opposition to slavery, in the beloved hymn "Amazing Grace."
Churches around the world are signing up to sing "Amazing Grace" on Feb. 18; details are on a Web site, www.amazinggracesunday.com.
Newton was Wilberforce's mentor in a 20-year fight against slavery.
Oliver recalled a scene from a Wilberforce biography detailing the 1807 debate over the bill to ban the slave trade, which "had gone to vote many times over the 20 years and had always been defeated."
In the wee hours of the morning, Parliament finally passed the bill. The members rose, turned to Wilberforce and gave him a standing ovation.
"He just broke down in tears," Oliver said.
In 1833, three days before Wilberforce died, Parliament finally abolished slavery altogether.
Oliver has been encouraging everyone he knows to see the movie.
"I just think it's going to be an inspiring story," he said.
Their hero
Wilberforce's passion for putting his faith into practice has made him a hero to activists.
"Wilberforce understood that most big problems can't be solved by changes in the law, at least not initially; they tie back to the state of ethics," said Eberly, of East Hempfield Township.
"So he founded 60 voluntary societies that set out to reform 'the manners and morals of the people' - addressing anything from public manners to the ethical treatment of animals."
Eberly, a friend of Phil Anschutz, owner of Bristol Bay and Walden Media's parent company, Anschutz Film Group, will host a screening at 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Regal Manor Stadium 16 theater at Manor Shopping Center.
Congressman Joe Pitts, R-16th District, has sent letters to hundreds of individuals and churches across his district, letting them know when and where they can see "Amazing Grace."
Locally, the film will be showing at both Penn Cinemas and Regal Manor.
"The congressman is a big fan of William Wilberforce," said his district director, Tom Tillett.
"There's an underground following of Wilberforce and his legacy," said Testa, of Walden Media.
Testa has a local connection; he wrote two books, "After the Fire" and "In the Valley of the Shadow," about the dangers of development to the county's Amish community, in the 1990s. He has been working for Walden, producer of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and the forthcoming "Bridge to Terabithia," for almost four years.
He wrote educational guides for "Amazing Grace," which are available at www.amazinggracemovie.com.
"Amazing Grace" is directed by Michael Apted and stars Ioan Gruffudd ("Black Hawk Down") as Wilberforce, Albert Finney as Newton and Youssou N'Dour as Olaudah Equiano, a former slave and abolitionist.
Amazing changes
The film's producers are hoping to tap into a wellspring of passion for change on modern-day slavery.
Through the "Amazing Change" campaign (online at www.theamazingchange.com), Bristol Bay and its partners are working for freedom for the estimated 27 million slaves across the globe.
Bristol Bay representatives were in Quarryville last summer to show trailers of "Amazing Grace" at the Christian music Witness Festival. The company also collected signatures on petitions calling for an end to slavery.
Friday, there were 37,305 signatories of the online petition.
Wilberforce fans think passion for change could touch other hot buttons.
Testa, who follows the ongoing debate in Lancaster County over building a new Route 23 through Amish farmland, wonders what position Wilberforce would take.
"He sure wouldn't be on the side of the road," Testa said.
Geer said pro-life workers and other social activists will be inspired.
"I think those who attend the movie who have a desire to use their life for some higher purpose can come out of that and choose from a variety of options, if you will, in terms of how God might use them to effect change," he said.
"I think the movie will help fuel the existing awakening of interest in problems of suffering and injustice, whether in our cities or throughout much of the Third World, especially among the young," Eberly said.
"It will strengthen the quiet movement that is already under way in Lancaster County to build bridges of appreciation and respect across race, class and ideology."
"I always cringe when people say, 'This is an important movie,' " said Ketchum, the Penn Cinemas owner. "Come on, it's a movie!
"But I think this is an important movie."